Within the Mountain
by Knight on Bald Mountain
Summary: A short one-shot of Link doing what he does best: adventuring.


Within the Mountain

Darkness continued to consume the skies as the sun faded behind western desert lands. The peace that was resonating in the light was gone, drowned out by the howls of wretched creatures. They were only to be feared by those who dared to leave the safety of their confined towns. Those who thought they could escape the beasts in the night were fools.

And yet, in the distance, heading toward rocky ranges of Hyrule was a young man. Considering the dreadfully vertical cliff that he was climbing, one (rather, everyone) would think that this person was crazy. Yet watching him climb for several minutes would change that. He was clearly strong enough to pull himself up, but he also had a slim physique that generally indicated a hard worker.

His name was Link, and he clearly had a goal to reach. His stout courage was obvious, as he never looked back towards the ground that now looked a good thousand feet below him. How he was able to stay so calm and keep all that stamina was beyond anyone's knowledge. It was as if an invisible hand was helping him along the whole way. Needless to say, he was in no way shape or form appearing to slow up.

One thing that did become more apparent with a closer look was how he was climbing up. On his right hand was a large gauntlet with claws on it that could penetrate the stone surface he was on. Using this glove, he could gain the leverage to pull himself up until he got a strong footing before punching the stone again. It was repetitious, but Link cared not. It was just another task that lay between him and his goal. However, despite his determination, the darkness made it more difficult to discern where to go step next.

That was when the monsters decided to come out.

Link heard their screeches higher up the cliff, and they were coming fast. With the darkness blinding him, he knew he wouldn't be able to face the creatures. While still grasping to the stone wall, he reached for his belt for his lantern, trying to light it. It was not wise have a light right at your side since it gave off his position even more. However, weighing it in with the fact that he was already spotted, he figured it didn't matter anymore. The shrieks of the winged beasts were getting louder as the continued to swarm all the more closer to their prey.

Link finally finished fiddling with his lantern as a bright yellow light began to glow around him. It only let him see just a little bit farther around him, but it was all he would need. He quickly reached behind his head for his sword. As it cleared its sheath, he peered upwards, waiting for the beasts to come for him.

The first creature dived at him he saw that this beast was about the size of large dodongo. It looked like a bird, but its body and head were like that of a lizalfos. What he didn't realize was that it could also spew fireballs from its mouth. The beasts use this special technique in an effort to make their prey stop and try to kill the fire, that's when the beast swoops in at grabs its target by the jaws, or talons, depending how big their query was.

This creature did just as it normally by lashing out with a big fireball at the seemingly helpless hylian. But Link maneuvered around the face of the cliff using his right arm as his leverage. When the monster realized that it had missed, it became confused. Nevertheless, it tried again. Again Link dodged it. The fiend did not have enough distance between itself and its prey to try again, so it simply tried to grasp him in its jaws.

That's when Link struck it. With all the strength he had, he sliced across the beasts face, severing its lower jaw from its head. It screeched again, but it was not clear enough for anyone to recognize. The creature now enraged, tried to pick Link up with its talons. The beast being a simply creature, did not realize that it would do no good, for as it approached Link hacked off its feat. Completely defenseless, the creature ran off. It would not get far.

The other creatures apparently saw what had happened and felt that the wounded creature was easier prey than Link. They broke off their original trajectory and headed off for the wounded beast. Link quickly then doused his lantern and continued to climb up the surface. If he was lucky, the predators would forget about him.

It must have been his lucky day.

Link made no further encounters once he made it to the top of the cliff. There were still plenty other cliffs farther up, but he seemed confident that he was where he needed to be. He reached for another pouch n his belt and pulled out a bottle. He took a swig of the creamy white liquid and put it away, replacing it with a map. He turned himself to face north, tracing his finger along it until he found what he was looking for. Glancing back up, he saw the cave entrance was blocked off by what had apparently been a rock slide from the cliffs above it. Nothing a bomb couldn't fix.

Link tossed a bomb over at the rubble. When the explosion cleared, he was pleased to see that the entrance was now clear. After a couple keese flew out, Link began to make his way through the cave. He lit the lantern again, pleased that he could see better with it in the cave than he could outside. He evaded several perilous drops before the cave finally opened up into a large room that seemed like that of an ancient temple. Perhaps it was buried within the mountain after hundreds of years of such landslides. It mattered not to Link. He came here to obtain the hidden artifact (or was it an item?).

The room was lit with torches, so he again doused his lantern before moving farther forward. After a couple of steps, he heard something like a whooshing sound. After drawing his sword and shield he turned to see it was a boomerang headed straight for him. He rolled under the incoming projectile and tried to see where it came from. Behind a crumpled wall of bricks, a gang of goriya. Link counted five of them. This could be a challenge.

As the goriya began moving around the room, Link began to strategize. Since drinking the milk after the cliff, he felt power coursing through his body and his sword. He cut towards a lone goriya that had decided to stop moving. Although he was a good fifteen feet away, a wave of magic power sliced through the air from Link's sword to his opponent. Although not as deadly as actually cutting his foe down, it did stun his opponent long enough for him to close the distance and finish him.

Two of the goriya went back behind the wall for cover as they tried to draw Link's attention. He was more concerned about the other two out in the open. They were fierce, and did not back down when Link attacked. Goriyas are difficult to approach while they still carry their boomerangs. Link tried the same magic cut to hit his foes, but they were faster than that. He realized that the sword was not going to cut it. He put it away (along with his shield) as he grabbed his bow. He fired at one of the goriyas in the open. It pierced the foe in the gut as it slumped back against a nearby wall.

The other goriya decided to jump back behind the cover as the others did, trying to hit him again at a distance. It would not work. At the same time, Link couldn't follow the monsters fast enough to get behind their cover. Pulling out another bomb, he waited for the goriyas to toss their boomerangs again. When they did, he lit the bomb and dashed for the cover they were behind, instead of going around, he simply tossed the bomb over the wall. A squeal of panic was heard, followed by the rushed steps of his foes, and finally the explosion of the bomb. Two of the goriya didn't make it. The third was clear.

The last of his opponents wasn't going to go down as easily. He had grabbed a second boomerang from a fallen comrade, thinking it would give him an advantage. He tossed it at him with precision and speed. Link stood still as it approached, watching it steadily. When it was but a foot away from him, it halted, stopped by his own hand. He caught it in mid-air. The goriya was too stunned to move, but that didn't stop Link from tossing it back at him, hitting him in the head stunning him even more. He finished him off cleanly.

Grabbing one of his boomerangs, Link scanned the room for the next corridor. Walking through, he realized that the architecture of this temple was like none he had ever seen before. It was like the style of a gerudo desert temple, but with a frosty white complexion added to it. Perhaps it belonged to a race long forgotten when these mountains were covered in snow. Alas, it mattered not. He was still rather far from his goal. Who knew how big this structure was? He had gone through plenty that were easily bigger than some of the towns. Maybe, just maybe, this one would be kinder to him and be of the smaller kind.

Perhaps the goddesses heard him, for it was not long when he found his way past the corridors that littered the temple and found another large room. It was bigger than the one that he had previously been in. In the distance, Link could see a pedestal with the . . . whatever it was that he was supposed to retrieve. If there was one thing Link knew about this type of situation, it was that the item was not to be trusted. In any case, he couldn't just leave it there. That thing was the whole reason he came here.

Just as he expected, he approached the pedestal and heard the shriek of another monster, followed by the flapping of wings. Looking up, he saw what the creature was a large patra. Wherever there was a large patra, a dozen little ones followed. No sooner did Link hop back behind some cover that the monster attack. The little patras formed a circle around the larger one and spun around it, creating a near impenetrable shield. Link hated those flying eyeballs because he knows that in order to kill the big one, he has to kill each and every one of the small patras. There was no time to lose, so he commenced the attack.

In all of Link's experience, the only weapon that could hurt a patra was his sword. Since he still had all of his strength, he was able to attack from a distance. He launched magical waves from his sword at the smaller creatures. One went down. Two went down. He decided to move a little closer. That's when the circle of patras suddenly expanded. Link dropped to the ground, just barely evading a patra swarming at him. Maybe the ground was safer. He blasted two more of those creatures away before the patras returned to their host and changed up their own tactics. Now they went lower.

Link, still lying on the ground, was unable to avoid getting hit this time. A patra rammed him in the gut, and continued flying around in formation almost as if it did not realize it had hit its target, but the large patra knew, and screeched as it saw Link hit the ground several meters back. That hurt. Without the ability to shoot the pests down, he now knew that he must systematically cut them down from within their formation.

One would not notice if they constantly attempted to hit a patra, but by watching them from a distance, one would notice that the patra moves in a systematic pattern, never deviating from its design once it has been alerted. Being a creation of the evil king, it obviously was not given a mind of its own. Link continued to observe from a distance as the large patra frantically tried to get close to him, but it was simply too slow, and the small patras couldn't leave their formation. Link was finally ready.

He charged out from behind the smashed wall just as the little patras pulled back from their expansion sequence. Standing precisely on the circular path the minis would take, he pulled out his sword and methodically cut down everyone that ran into him. Link then turned to the big patra. It clearly had no way to defend itself, but without a mind of its own, it tried to fight anyway. Link quickly put it out of its misery. As the creature finally exploded into a dense, blue mist, Link was sure that he had finished the last of the creatures. He was right, but at the same time he was wrong.

"I do truly appreciate what you've done." Link turned around to see another man standing at the pedestal with the artifact in his hand. "I couldn't have gotten this artifact without your help. But now, I must bid you farewell."

And with that, the man leapt backwards and rushed off behind the pedestal. Link took off after the man. He looked like the famed thief Sakon. He was told he might run into him, but he had doubted he had made it this far with the cave in and all. Perhaps he came in the same he was now exiting. He reached what he thought was a dead end. Two walls side by side placed close together, but with spikes beneath it. For a moment, Link was puzzled, until he saw the soft grappling points along the ceiling. Clearly, he needed his clawshots.

Pulling them from the back of his belt, he fired one at the closest spot. Instead of letting it pull him all the way up, he chose to swing along it until he fired his other clawshot. Then he swung along it. He repeated this action until he could see Sakon again. The hallway was extremely long, sometimes turning one way or another, but Sakon must have been an expert with the clawshots due to the fact that Link simply couldn't catch him.

He decided to try something drastic. He attempted make longer swings in attempt to skip a couple mesh spots. He elongated the chain on the claw he was swinging on until he was almost touching the spikes. Then, as he was coming upwards of the arc, he released the chain, and he was soaring through the air. He was getting the distance he needed, but if he didn't grab a spot soon enough, he would fall on the spikes. He chose neither. Instead he clawed Sakon himself, and attached to his leg.

How he knew Sakon would be able to withstand Link's weight, he didn't know, but it worked, and now, all he had to do was wait for the corridor to end before taking back the artifact. Of course, Sakon tried to shake him off, but he was tougher than that. What seemed like hours of endless corridors was only three minutes before they finally reached the end where it turned to be another cave entrance. There was snow on this side of the mountain, perhaps they had climbed higher than Link expected. Sakon released the claw while he was still in the air and turned his body so that Link absorbed the impact of the fall.

With Link bewildered for just a moment, Sakon was able to escape Link's grasp. However, Link was much faster and quickly caught up to him. When Sakon saw that he was going to get run over, he decided that he best turn around and face him with a sword in hand. He struck out at him. Link dipped to the side and narrowly avoided having his head sliced off. Sakon, in a panic, continued to lash out at Link, but he simply could not land a single blow. He finally stepped back and made some space. Then he raised his sword, in preparation for a charge.

Link did not draw his sword yet, he simply stood there, waiting for Sakon to make a move, which he did. He charged at Link and swung his sword down at him. Link simply stepped to the side before spinning and drawing his own sword. Sakon, in a panic, dropped to the ground. He felt over his body, expecting to feel a wound, but he was lucky. The only thing he lost was the artifact in his sack.

I lost it? He exclaimed to himself, as he saw Link make his way to a sloped. Just before doing so, he turned around and bowed in a somewhat mocking thanks. Then he snowboarded down the slope on his shield. Link put his newly acquired sack on his belt, as he hopped along the slopes to the soft and leveled ground. He got the artifact, and nobody was hurt. Many have wondered what it's like to accomplish such grand deeds, but it really only puzzles him.

It was just another average day, after all.


End file.
